Here's what makes Ironheart's N.A.T.A.L.I.E. special

Ironheart gives Riri Williams a tragic backstory involving the death of her stepfather, Gary, because of gun violence. In the same incident, Riri also loses her best friend, Natalie Washington, played by actress Lyric Ross. However, we see Natalie return in the closing minutes of the first episode, which is titled Take Me Home.

However, this Natalie is not a flesh-and-blood human being, but rather an AI virtual assistant. Riri wants to create an advanced AI to run her new Ironheart armor and scans her brain to create one. As the AI is being created, Riri falls asleep, and when she wakes up she finds the virtual Natalie or N.A.T.A.L.I.E. standing in front of her. The AI took Natalie's form because the program might have scanned Riri's subconscious brain, too.

Lyric Ross sat down for an interview with Collider’s editor, Aidan Kelley, in which she discussed what made her Ironheart AI N.A.T.A.L.I.E. different from other Artificial Intelligence programs like Ultron and J.A.R.V.I.S./Vision. Her answer is simple because N.A.T.A.L.I.E. feels real.

What did Ironheart's Lyric Ross say about N.A.T.A.L.I.E.?

As mentioned before, Ross sat down for an interview with Aidan Kelley, who is the editor at Collider. In that interview, Kelley pointed out how Ironheart's N.A.T.A.L.I.E. feels different from James Spader's and Paul Bettany's AI characters Ultron and Vision/J.A.R.V.I.S. Agreeing with Kelley's assessment, Lyric Ross said:

“I think it's the fact that she simply feels real. It’s a lot of things that you can relate with her with. Even the back and forth between Riri and Natalie and the way that they handle each other. Those are real situations when it comes to very strong and personal relationships. It was a lot of things that she gave to their dynamic that was really actions of love that any regular person can give to another."

Then, pointing out that both J.A.R.V.I.S./Vision and Ultron sound less human, unlike Ironheart's N.A.T.A.L.I.E., Ross continued:

"I think just the core of that and being honest, I think that was a huge thing. The way that she took on challenges, to me, was very similar to the way Riri took on challenges. They were kind of one in the same, but at the same time, very different. It’s a lot of different moving parts that I feel like people can relate to. You know, looking at the Jarvises and characters like that, as much as you love and adore them, it's very hard to relate cause they stick to the whole robotic or program feel, and Natalie was there to prove that she was much more than that. And that she wanted to be a friend, a supporter, and a protector in any way that she could.”

Lyric Ross also addresses N.A.T.A.L.I.E.'s role in Riri's story in the series

In the same Collider interview, Lyric Ross spoke about N.A.T.A.L.I.E.'s role in the six-episode miniseries. Asked if N.A.T.A.L.I.E.'s presence helps Riri in healing or delaying it, the actress said:

“Oh, that’s deep. Can I say both? … Yeah, it’s kind of crazy. You can see her intention. You understand that she’s really there just to help and not hurt in any way. Of course, it sounds like she’s a little bit more selfish and like she wants that relationship and joy and happiness that she keeps replaying for herself. But she also acknowledges the fact that this girl is still hurt. This girl is still grieving, and because she loves her, she is willing to do anything in order to help her heal. And she doesn’t have everything figured out. It doesn’t have anything to do with anything tech-wise or programming. All of that she can do with ease. This is a very new challenge for her, dealing with people in a humane way. This is literally still an AI, so the fact that she is still figuring things out, but you can tell where her intentions lie. I think it was really good for her."

This complicated answer works, because we have seen throughout the series how N.A.T.A.L.I.E., despite her AI origin, has a human personality, which is absent in Tony Stark's AI. We see through the series that N.A.T.A.L.I.E. actively wants to be Riri's friend, and even helps the latter calm down as she has a panic attack. The Ironheart actress's answer would seem to make sense in this case.

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All six episodes of Ironheart are available to stream on Disney+.

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